Material handling conveyors



Feb. 28, 1967 J. M. LEACH MATERIAL HANDLING CONVEYORS Filed May 16, 1966 QMK INVENTOR.

United States Patent 3,306,429 MATERIAL HANDLING CONVEYORS John M. Leach, 13.0. Box 341, Port Jefferson, N.Y. 11777 Filed May 16, 1966, Ser. No. 550,516 1 Claim. (Cl. 198-63) This application is a continuation in part of copending application Serial Number 404,078, now Patent No. 3,266,621, issued Aug. 16, 1966, filed October 15, 1964, and all of the objects and advantages set forth in that application also apply to the present invention.

The present invention relates to conveyors. More particularly, it relates to conveyors for carrying bulk and semi-liquid materials which can not be effectively pumped in a practical manner.

There are numerous bulk, semiliquid and semisolid materials which should be carried in a completely closed conveyor for many reasons, among which are dusting, hygroscopicity, emission of odors, tendency to absorb odors, prevent outside contamination, toxicity, adversely affected by light, require close temperature control, prevent escape of volatiles, and require controlled atmospheric conditions.

In addition, many of these same and other materials can not be successfully carried by any conveyor which exerts frictional or pressure forces upon them because of extreme fluidity, abrasiveness, or fragility.

It is an object of the present invention to provide a completely closed conveyor which will carry any material which can be poured from one level to another in absolute isolation, in any direction, without exerting any frictional forces upon the material, without exerting any extraneous forces upon the material, without degrading the particles of the material, and without classifying the particles of the material.

In the drawings:

FIG. 1 is a cross sectional view of the present invention taken substantially on the plane indicated by the line 11 in FIG. 2, and

FIG. 2 is a cross sectional view taken substantially on the plane indicated by line 22 of FIG. 1.

As in the former invention identified above, a supporting conveyor 12A carries a series of material holding magazines 14A, each of which is provided with a receiving opening 20A. The outlet opening and movable closures for each opening will also be provided as shown in the former invention but have been omitted from the present drawing in order to more clearly illustrate the elements of the present invention.

The element which spans the spaces between the magazines 14A in the present invention is a continuous flexible belt 110 provided with upstanding, continuous and flexible side cleats or flanges 112. This belt is supported by sheaves 114, preferably three in number, which are mounted for rotation on stub shafts 116 suitably carried by a frame 118 which is suitably supported from any convenient object, usually the track of the conveyor 12A (not shown).

The sheaves 114 are provided with grooves 120 which receive the vertical cleats 112 when the belt 110 passes around a sheave. The face of each sheave is curved as shown at 122 so as to shape the run of the belt to make it conform to the exterior of the magazines 14A as shown at 124.

The belt 110 is provided with a series of cutout areas 126 between the cleats 112, two of which are shown in dotted lines in FIG. 2 but it is to be understood that these cutout areas are spaced along the entire length of the belt. These cutout areas 126 are of the proper length and so spaced apart that a cutout area falls directly over 3,306,429 Patented Feb. 28, 1967 a receiving opening 20A in a magazine in the horizontal run 128 of the belt.

The belt is also provided with cleats 130, each of which is engaged on the horizontal run 128 of the belt by the leading edge of a magazine 14A so that movement of the magazines imparts a like movement of the belt so as to maintain the cutout areas 126 in registry with the receiving openings 20A in the horizontal run 128 of the belt, as shown in FIG. 2.

Charging hoppers 94A are positioned as shown so that material flows into the magazines 14A as long as a cutout area 126 and a magazine receiving opening 20A are beneath a hopper 94Av but the solid areas of the belt 110 cut off flow from the hoppers whenever a space 129 between the magazines 14A is passing under a hopper and any slight amount of material which might escape from a hopper is retained by the solid areas of the belt and the cleats 112 until such material is contacted by a scraper 96A and swept into the next magazine 14A through a cutout area 126 over its receiving opening 20A.

In this manner continuous flow from each hopper will occur over each magazine as long as the magazine has any part of its receiving opening 20A under the hopper, but no material can spill into the spaces 129 between the magazines. I

Two hoppers 94A have been shown for the sake of convenience but it is to be understood that only one or as many more than two as desired can be employed. The more hoppers used the quicker the magazines will be filled. The flow from the hoppers and the speed of movement of the belt are selected so that the last hopper will approximately complete the filling of each magazine. Thus it can be seen that the more magazines used, the faster the speed of the belt and the greater the carrying capacity of the conveyor.

The foregoing is to be considered as descriptive and not limitative as many changes and modifications can be made in the physical features described without departing from the spirit of the invention.

The invention having been described, what is claimed is:

A material handling system comprising a movable conveyor, material holding magazines having material receiving openings and mounted for movement with said conveyor, a movably mounted, flexible, continuous belt disposed over and in contact with one or more of said magazines and provided with a series of cutout areas spaced so that each falls over the receiving opening of a magazine beneath it but does not extend beyond the confines of the magazine, each of the solid areas of said belt between cutout areas spanning the space between two adjacent magazines beneath it, means for moving said belt at the same speed as the magazines, two flexible, continuous side cleats extending vertically upwardly from said belt over said magazines, and a material supply hopper having an open end for feeding material through a cutout area of said belt and through a receiving opening into its magazine, said open end of said hopper being nested between said cleats and in contact with said belt whereby side spill from said hopper is prevented by said cleats at all times, and flow from said hopper is discontinued by a solid area of said belt while a space between two magazines is passing under said hopper.

EVON C. BLUNK, Primary Examiner. E. A. SROKA, Assistant Examiner. 

